Earlier this summer, I attended a photography workshop in Santa Fe, New Mexico, under the tutelage of Brett Erickson. Before I flew back to New York, I drove to Los Alamos County to check out the ruins at Bandelier National Monument. Near the park shuttle bus terminal at the White Rock Visitor Center is the White Rock Overlook Park, from where I took this photo on a partly overcast day. The cliff plunges 1,000 feet to the canyon below. The river you see is the famous Rio Grande, and you can clearly make out an almost perfect mesa in the distance on the lefthand side, as well as the one directly in the middle. If you look really closely at the bare patch on the right bank of the river, right before it curves, there is a little community there of a couple of houses and some trucks. The cactus in the foreground was blooming and this was just a magnificent viewpoint, but one to avoid if you are scared of heights. Hope all is well with you.
White Rock Canyon Overlook, Los Alamos, New Mexico
This postcard may be slow to reach you. I forgot to mail it until near the end of my trip. I was looking south across from Steveston at the mouth of the Lower Arm of the mighty Fraser River. This scene struck me, with the driftwood, the boats passing by, and the purple wildflowers growing by the water’s edge. In the distance, some islands, including Vancouver Island provide a nice silhouette. It was just a beautiful scene that stuck with me.
My friend Melinda Green Harvey was in BC around the same time, and took a magnificent photo of driftwood, if this sort of thing interests you. I promise to continue with posting about Iguazu Falls later this week.
As promised, I continue with my posts about my first Around-the-World trip. Iguazu Falls has a special place in my heart for the reason I listed here. As part of my series of posts on Buenos Aires, I suggested day trips to Tigre and Colonia if you have a couple of extra days to spare on your trip to Argentina. If you have a week in the area, however, there is no reason why you can’t hop aboard the short flight from the conveniently located domestic airport in Buenos Aires to Puerto Iguazu. You can, of course, also go from Brazil, but for some of us that means obtaining a visa.
Of course, the main attraction here is the some 270+ waterfalls set in a beautiful jungle setting which we will get to, but the area is also a great place for wildlife watching, especially for ornithologists, amateur or professional. Early morning or early evening are the best times to see the animals, but it’s really a matter of luck and patience. You can see tropical birds, mammals such as the raccoon-like coatis, or monkeys, vultures, exotic butterflies, and the like. I spent but 24 hours in the area yet here is a sampling of some of the wildlife I encountered during my brief stay.
Don’t feed the coati, as the sign says
Don’t leave your backpack unattended around these coati
A bird patrols the grounds of the Sheraton Iguazu
The biggest poinsettia I have ever seen. Full of butterflies if you get up close
Butterfly feeding on a flower
Early one morning, a toucan (probably toco toucan?) flies high above the trees
A plush-crested jay
I’m not sure what this colorful bird is, possibly a green headed tanager
A lone vulture soars over the falls
More vultures flying above the jungle
Vultures soaring on drafts of warm air
A peephole to the falls as vultures roost in the trees above the rocks
A vulture up close
My favorite owl friend sleeping.
Oh, hey! And goodbye!
I’m not an ornithologist by trade. For more on bird-watching in Iguazu, this post by Harold Stiver I found seems like a good starting point. I have more photos of the falls themselves here, and my story of visiting this magical place here
